Vice President Joe Biden brushed aside recent criticism by predecessor Dick Cheney that moves by the Obama administration had put the United States at risk, telling CNN on Tuesday that the former vice president was "dead wrong."

On the same day that Vermont's House and Senate voted to override GOP Gov. Jim Douglas' veto of a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in the state, the Washington City Council voted 12-0 Tuesday in favor of allowing same-sex marriages performed in other states to be recognized in the nation's capital.

"Who controls the past controls the future." It's a line from George Orwell's novel "1984." But it could also serve as the rallying cry for two groups battling over President Obama's ambitious domestic agenda - and the legacy of two former presidents.

New York prosecutors joined the Obama administration yesterday in shutting down a China-based network that allegedly supplied Iran's nuclear and missile programmes with the unwitting aid of some of Wall Street's biggest banks.

When Americans learned that unemployment had reached its highest level in a quarter century last week, President Barack Obama was midway through a star turn in Europe. And next week, with barely time to pack fresh shirts and refuel Air Force One, he's off again–first to Mexico, then on to a summit meeting in the Caribbean.

The Obama administration began a five-year, $45 million media blitz yesterday to spark awareness about HIV infection and AIDS, saying that Americans have grown complacent about the deadly illness even though it represents "a serious threat to the health of our nation."

California is moving quickly to pump $415 million in federal stimulus money into upgrading job training and placement services at employment centers around the state, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Tuesday.

They are the Obama-wannabes, many of them young and heady former campaign workers, frantically networking or waiting, just waiting, for the ultimate status symbol in their generation's caste system: a job in the Obama administration.

As President Obama traveled through Europe, he was a study in nuance. Speaking to a town hall in Strasbourg, France, he admitted American arrogance but also chided Europeans for their casual anti-Americanism. In another context, he quoted his college law professor: "Some are to blame, but all are responsible." In a town hall with students in Turkey, he pushed for nuance as an end in itself: "In the Muslim world, this notion that somehow everything is the fault of the Israelis lacks balance. There are two sides to every question. ... I say the same thing to my Jewish friends—which is, you have to see the perspective of the Palestinians. Learning to stand in somebody else's shoes, to see through their eyes—that's how peace begins."

Former President George W. Bush's international AIDS-fighting campaign has reduced by 10 percent the mortality rates in 15 targeted countries, primarily in Africa, and has saved 1.1 million lives, according to a study that for the first time quantified the successes of his program.

Gay-rights groups say that momentum from back-to-back victories on same-sex marriage in Vermont and Iowa could spill into other states, particularly since at least nine other legislatures are considering measures this year to allow marriage between gay couples.

The federal government will soon send more than $300 million in stimulus funds to 61 housing agencies that have been repeatedly faulted by auditors for mishandling government aid, a USA TODAY review has found.

Construction firms are so eager for work in the sagging economy that project bids are coming in much lower than expected, allowing state and local governments to stretch their federal stimulus dollars further.

With its gleaming Vegas Strip and stucco sprawl, Nevada has portrayed itself as a model of the civilized West. But every so often, such as Tuesday, holdovers from its boisterous beginnings show up at the Capitol - and they are named Chicken Ranch, Pussycat Ranch and Shady Lady.

The giant factory fishing boats that take billions of pounds of pollock from Alaska's Bering Sea would face major limits on salmon caught accidentally in their nets under controversial regulations recommended Monday.

Sporting a black cowboy hat, Gene Sargent steps up to the microphone at Dave's Restaurant in Milton, Pierce County, launching into an old Sons of the Pioneers tune. It conjures up his memories of when he was married the first time, had a wife with long brown hair; was a new father and had a job in Modesto, Calif. — before everything slowly came apart like the seeds of a tumbleweed.

Crowds gathered in somber reflection near the Rwandan capital of Kigali on Tuesday, marking the 15th anniversary of the start of a 100-day genocidal massacre in Rwanda in which an estimated 800,000 people were brutally killed.

The arduous work of combing through rubble and treating the wounded of this medieval city continued into the early hours of Wednesday morning, even as the death toll from the powerful earthquake that rocked the area continued to climb.

Fidel Castro, the longtime communist leader of Cuba, met with visiting members of the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus on Tuesday, a day after his brother, Raúl, who succeeded him as president, did the same, according to a U.S. official in Havana.

US special envoy Richard Holbrooke on Wednesday met National Security Adviser M K Narayanan and is understood to have discussed how India could help Washington's strategy aimed at ending terror threats emanating from Afghanistan and Pakistan.

President Barack Obama made a surprise visit to Baghdad, which has been rocked by a spate of recent bombings, to urge the leaders of Iraq's feuding sectarian factions to find "political solutions" to their disputes.

Thousands of anti-government protesters — many of them dressed in red, their signature color — gathered in central Bangkok on Wednesday morning as the Thai capital braced for a new round of political demonstrations.

AIG's aircraft-leasing unit is in talks over a $5bn credit line from the Federal Reserve that could be used to facilitate its sale – an unusual move that would raise the stakes in the US government's bail-out of the stricken insurer.

Zipcar Inc., the world's largest car-sharing company, plans to announce Wednesday a partnership with Zimride, a fast-growing online carpooling service that uses social networking tools like Facebook Inc. to match potential riders and drivers on university campuses or at companies like Wal-Mart.

Messaging with the boss much? Maybe you ought to be. Workers who have strong communication ties with their managers tend to bring in more money than those who steer clear of the boss, according to a new analysis of social networks in the workplace by IBM (IBM) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.